Nerd Alert: 5 tips for wearing glasses in photos

In fashion today, it seems that glasses are being fully embraced. It’s a part of hipster style, has always been part of intellectual trends, and many use their eyewear as a fashion trademark. As a San Francisco photographer I photograph everyone from creatives to lawyers to techies. Whether I am getting a business portrait for LinkedIn or an online dating photo for a profile, glasses come up often in our shoots. And while they can be a great accessory for your next headshot, there are a few things that might help you to make your shoots with spectacles more spectacular!

1. Future Lens: Ask yourself if you are going to keep these for a while. If you’ve already had this particular pair of glasses for more than a year or two, you may want to consider upgrading before your shoot or just wearing your contact lenses instead. Trust me, if your photos look dated, even just two months after the shoot, you won’t want to post them.

2. Don’t Be Transitional: It’s important to avoid transition lenses during natural light photo-shoots. The majority of my photo-shoots take place outdoors and even just a little bit of sunlight triggers transitions to turn into pale sunglasses. This is not a good look for either corporate headshots or online dating photos.

3. Variety Rules: If you have more than one pair of glasses, I highly recommend bringing them. Variety is key as it will make you feel freer during your shoot and depending on their color and shape might bring out fascinating things about you with the addition of different angles, backgrounds and lighting.

4. Patient & Clean: Glare can be an issue, so it may take me a little longer to get the perfect, natural shot without glare. Also, don’t forget to clean your glasses before the shoot! Smudges can and will show up in the photos and are quite difficult to remove after the fact. Photoshop has its limits!

5. Don’t Hide: Be prepared to take some shots without glasses. You might feel more comfortable hiding behind your glasses, but you never know, you may find that you actually look great without them. 🙂